Considering the simple and quite verifiable fact that the Christian bible recognizes the 'Old Testament 'as being divinely inspired (indeed, many Christians believe the bible to be the inerrant word of god), we may pose the simple question to Christians (and Jews, as it turns out) as to whether infanticide is ethically or morally acceptable.

That we know this kind of story plays out in the real world, that we know infanticide is a very real problem (think of female infanticide in rural India, for example), does not mean that this private narrative remains pathetic; regardless of such knowledge, we are being presented with a disjunction, a deficiency of reason.

The vast majority of defendants in infanticide and concealment of birth cases in British and colonial courts shared a similar profile: they were young, unmarried, plebeian or working-class women, very often servants.